A vacation in Dohoku, amidst an abundant natural landscape and National Heritage Sites of Shiretoko and Kushiro-Shitsugen National Park Arrive at Memanbetsu Airport and depart from Tancho Kushiro Airport

From Memanbetsu Airport, situated in a large farming area, travel by bus to Shiretoko. After relieving yourself of your luggage at your lodgings in Utoro, you will depart on the Utoro Cruise. No road leads to the end of the Shiretoko Peninsula, so the stunning beauty of this landscape can only be viewed by boat. If you’re lucky, you may even encounter brown bears or dolphins.

After experiencing Okhotsk cuisine while reflecting on the scenes you saw on the cruise, it’s time for some nighttime nature viewing! On the Shiretoko Nature Experience: Nighttime Wildlife Watching tour, you will travel by car to view the Shiretoko forest. Catch glimpses of wild animals who are much more active at night than during the day. Amidst the silence of the forest, signs of natural wildlife can be easily heard.

* Shiretoko Nature Experience: Nighttime Wildlife Watching
https://www.sno.co.jp/night-watch.html

After eating breakfast, it’s time to leave your things at the hotel and head out on a walk around the Shiretoko Five Lakes. Walking among the natural landscape inhabited by brown bears, the beauty of the landscape, with its interwoven forest and lakes, seems as if it purifies your mind itself. Two types of routes—an elevated boardwalk route from which to safely enjoy nature, and a paid promenade that is open seasonally—are available, so you can fit your experience to the season and duration of your visit. The exhilarating experience of pushing through a forest inhabited by wild animals is sure to sharpen your senses.

After your forest walk is over, you will return to the hotel to pick up your luggage, then head to Kushiro. At the train station, enjoy a hearty meal of famous Kushiro ramen and seafood barbecue to relieve your tired body.

Today’s main event is the Kushiro River canoe experience. You will head for the Toro Nature Center, which offers a full range of nature tours of the Kushiro Wetlands. Though the wetlands area appears uneventful from afar, when viewed from your canoe while listening to your guide, it reveals a rich ecosystem, doubling your enjoyment. Traveling with just the power of your own oars, you will be able to hear the wind and the calls of wild birds echoing through the wetlands. After a meal near Toro Station, you will head to Kushiro Station while enjoying the view from the Kushiro Wetlands Norokko Train’s* observation car.

After buying souvenirs at MOO Kushiro Fisherman’s Wharf and Kushiro Airport, your journey is complete. We hope that you’ll be able to refresh your mind and body by getting your fill of Doto’s natural landscape during this three-day trip.

* Only from July through September